A gentle breeze swept by, brushing the white hem of Lumine's dress against her soft calves. Beside her, Paimon widened her eyes in surprise.
"Huh? Has it been purified?"
"It's unbelievable!"
Despite being the Anemo Archon, Venti found it difficult to effortlessly purify the residual power left by the Shadow Dragon, Durin. Otherwise, he would have resolved the issue long ago.
Using the power of a god to forcefully purify it would instead cause even more damage to Dvalin.
"Could this be due to your special constitution?" Nolan remarked, that although he already knew, he couldn't help but marvel at the situation.
"Maybe."
Lumine replied, not entirely sure, but since this phenomenon had occurred, she might indeed possess the ability to purify these red-colored crystals.
"As expected of a traveler from a foreign land, possessing unimaginable abilities."
Venti said with a smile of admiration, relieved that he didn't have to find a solution to purify the crystals himself.
He took out another Scarlet-Red Crystal from his pocket and said, "Traveler, I have another Tear Crystal here. See if you can purify it. That way, I can help Dvalin and solve the crisis facing Mondstadt."
"Really? You aren't lying to us, right?" Paimon looked at him with suspicious eyes.
"Do I look like someone who would deceive others?" Venti sighed with a hint of helplessness.
"But didn't you obtain this Dvalin Tear from Nolan's hands?" Lumine's hand rested on her waist, revealing a somewhat speechless expression.
"Misunderstanding, it's all just a misunderstanding. It was an exchange with a treasure chest, just that the 'payment' hasn't been completed yet," Venti insisted, denying any deception.
That being said.
In fact, Lumine was also curious about whether she could truly purify the crystals, she took the Red Crystal from Venti and held it in her hand.
Not long after, the gloomy energy within the Scarlet Crystal seemed to be expelled by an invisible force, dissipating like steam.
"It actually worked..." Venti said with some surprise.
Nothing was more convincing than seeing it with one's own eyes.
"All right, if you say you can solve Mondstadt's crisis, is there anything we can help with?" Lumine returned the purified Tear Crystal to Venti, crossing her arms over her chest.
"Huh? If it's you guys, you can indeed help. After all, everyone saw you drive away the Stormterror from Mondstadt. When the time comes, it'll be much easier for you to go to the Mondstadt Cathedral and borrow something!" Venti rubbed his chin with his palm, pondered for a moment, then nodded.
"Borrow something?" Paimon looked puzzled.
"Ahem, that's something essential if you want to get the Stormterror back to normal, but now is not the time to go borrow something, I have to go get ready first, so excuse me for a moment."
Venti coughed lightly, waved his hand, and turned to leave.
"Ah, are you just leaving like this? Where are you going?" Paimon called after Venti's retreating figure.
"I'm going to the place that symbolizes the 'Hero of Mondstadt.' Farewell!"
Venti's voice drifted from his green-clad back.
If Nolan remembered correctly, Lumine and Paimon had interrupted Venti earlier when he attempted to cleanse the curse from the Wind Dragon in the forest, inadvertently exposing themselves to the Abyss's corrupting influence.
This was not the power of the poisonous blood of the Shadow Dragon, Durin, but a magical curse cast by the Abyss Mage who wanted to control the Wind Dragon.
Without this curse, the Wind Dragon probably wouldn't have gotten out of control so easily.
The place Venti mentioned going should be the massive tree in Windrise. Not only was it a crucial node in Mondstadt's ley line circulation, but it also had the most abundant wind elemental power near Mondstadt City.
As the Anemo Archon, Venti should have no problem standing under the shade of the tree, using its power to ease his injuries.
In the game's plot, Lumine and Paimon would also chase after him, wanting to question Venti about the Anemo Archon aka himself.
After all, her main purpose for coming to Mondstadt was to find the Anemo Archon to see if it was the unknown god that took her brother. And with Venti's familiarity with the Anemo Archon's attendant, the Storm Dragon, it's obvious that he also knows the Anemo Archon's story.
After that, with Lumine's purification ability, even standing by her side could be effective. With the combined power of Lumine's purification and the tree, Venti's curse would soon be alleviated, and then they would figure out how to borrow things like the Holy Lyre der Himmel from the Mondstadt Cathedral...
That was probably the process... Nolan tried hard to recall, feeling that he shouldn't be wrong.
Sure enough, as Lumine watched Venti walk away, she pondered for a moment and said to Nolan, "I still have some things I want to clarify. About finding an inn and selling monster drops. Could you help me with that?"
After speaking, she clasped her hands together in a pleading gesture.
"That's no problem. After all, isn't it normal for fellow Knights of Favonius to help each other? Besides, although we haven't known each other for long, we're already friends, right?" Nolan smiled nonchalantly.
He hadn't expected a day would come when Lumine would earnestly ask him for help. In the game's plot, after she became an adventurer, she was basically entrusted with various tasks by others. It was rare for her to ask for help from others.
"Hehehe, Nolan you're so nice!" Paimon said with a smile as he floated in mid-air with his hands behind his back.
[Paimon Has Developed Good Feelings Towards You, Obtained 90 Affection Points. Current Affection Level: Lv.2 (140/200)]
"Well, let's meet at the Good Hunter's Restaurant for lunch. I'll treat you to a feast." Lumine brushed aside her golden locks, revealing her fair ears and smiling.
[Lumine Has Developed Good Feelings Towards You, Obtained 150 Affection Points. Current Affection Level: Lv.3 (195/300)]
Seeing the consecutive affection notifications popping up in the character panel, Nolan once again patted his chest, indicating there was no problem.
Lumine handed over some drop materials she had collected from defeating monsters on her way to Mondstadt to Nolan before leading Paimon to chase after Venti's direction.
Not long after,
Nolan first went to the Adventurers' Guild and sold a bunch of miscellaneous items like Slime Condensate, Dead Ley Lines Leaves, and one-star artifacts, earning a total of around 110,000 Mora.
Mainly, the two one-star artifacts and one two-star quality dead ley line leaves sold for more mora, while slime condensate, priced at 1,000 Mora per clump, wasn't worth much.
After all, slimes were one of the most common monsters in Teyvat, so their drop materials weren't rare.
Thus, together with his previous savings and the ten thousand Mora opened in yesterday's ordinary treasure chest, he now had a huge sum of nine hundred thousand Mora, which allowed him to do a lot of things.
For example, he could pay nine months' rent to Eula, or buy a cheaper three-star weapon, and so on.
The drop materials given by Lumine were pretty much the same thing, but it was a lot more than Nolan, and the Adventurer's Guild paid two hundred thousand Mora for it.
With this money, life would be much more comfortable than when he first arrived, at least he wouldn't have to stay in the Knights of Favonius' relief shelter.
Leaving the Adventurers' Guild, Nolan continued to help Lumine and Paimon find an inn.
...
At Noon,
Nolan was sitting outside the Good Hunter Restaurant, and the fountain in the square that had been smashed by the Wind Dragon already had a construction team busy with restoration work.
The battle had also affected the Good Hunter Restaurant, with its sign knocked over and stoves shattered.
Fortunately, the damage wasn't severe, and after emergency repairs this morning, it was now open for business as usual.
After a while, he finally saw Lumine and Paimon walking over from the street, followed by the Anemo Archon, Barbatos, who was often seen idling around in his green attire.
(End of Chapter)
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